Course Outline

Physics is an experimental science; that is, the nature and validity of the theoretical framework that physicists use is informed by the outcomes of experiments which can be performed repeatably.

Phys 111L is the laboratory accompanying Phys 111. In this course you will conduct experiments and make observation on various physical systems.

Course Structure

Class will meet once during each of the weeks listed in the schedule on the last page. During each meeting you will be given specific laboratory activities, tasks and assignments. Some of the laboratories consist of traditional experiments; in these you will set up an apparatus, gather and analyze data and reach conclusions about the underlying physics based on your analysis. In other laboratories you will conduct qualitative, computational or ``thought'' experiments; these are accompanied by a worksheet consisting of a series of questions that you will answer.

Laboratory Schedule

Lab Date Lab Materials
- 20 - 21 January No Lab
1 27 - 28 January Motion in One Dimension
2 3 - 4 February Free Fall
3 10 - 11 February Vectors
4 17 - 18 February Projectile Motion
5 24 - 25 February Introduction to Forces
6 2 - 3 March Newton's Law for a Single Object
7 9 - 10 March Atwood's Machine
- 16 - 17 March No Lab (Spring Break)
8 23 - 24 March Cancelled
9 30 - 31 March Work and Kinetic Energy
10 6 - 7 April Conservation of Energy
11 13 - 14 April Conservation of Momentum
12 20 - 21 April Equilibrium of a Rigid Body
13 27 - 28 April Buoyancy and Density